NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Dell(:DELL) was the big loser in premarket trading Wednesday as investors responded to the No. 2 PC maker's disappointing first-quarter results released late on Tuesday.

Citing a "challenging" economic environment, the Texan tech giant brought in revenue of $14.42 billion, compared to $15 billion in the same period last year, and significantly below the average analysts' estimate of $14.91 billion.

Excluding items, Dell earned 43 cents a share, down from 55 cents a share in the prior year's quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were looking for earnings of 46 cents a share.

The first-quarter numbers, combined with weak second-quarter guidance, pushed Dell's shares lower in extended trading and the company's stock was off 13.2% at $13.09 early on Wednesday. Dell was also one of the most active Nasdaq stocks on share volume of 763,044.

Facebook(:FB), which is preparing for its third full day of trading as a public company, crept up 0.61% to $31.16 in premarket trading, after closing down 8.9% on Tuesday. The social networking phenomenon was the most active Nasdaq stock on premarket volume of 1,544,525.

The largest-ever tech IPO is now attracting the attention of regulators including FINRA and the Securities and Exchange Commission after reports emerged that Morgan Stanley(:MS) may have communicated negative news about the offering to select clients.

On Tuesday Reuters reported that Morgan Stanley, the prestigious lead underwriter for the IPO, had cut earnings estimates for Facebook days before the pricing of the offer. The Reuters report raised questions about whether the earnings downgrade was communicated to only the investment bank's top institutional clients or more broadly.

HP(:HPQ), which reports its second-quarter results after market close, was down 2.75% to $21.18 before market open amid rumors that the No. 1 PC maker could cut up to 30,000 jobs.

TheStreet will be live-blogging HP's earnings, starting at 3.45PM ET:

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

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